What is a short film?

 Short films can be defined by both their length and their content. 

A short film is described by the OSCARs as 'an original motion picture which lasts a running time of 40 minutes or less, including all credits'. The maximum length varies. It must be under 30 minutes for most film festivals and 4-5 minutes for education. Short films may also vary in length depending on the budget. The budget is much smaller than that of a feature length film as it may be either self funded or government funded.

The film crosses the boundaries of genre. It should have effective realisation of one particular idea and is said by Gareth Evans to be 'crystalline creations of precise, prismatic intensity'. According to Dave Sproxton of Aardman animations, they are 'a good idea, succinctly told. Less is more'. The difference between short films and feature length films can be compared to the difference between poems and novels. There will be less background information on each character and the movie will be much more focussed on the plot. 

The technology in short films is more limited than that in feature length films which leads to narrative and technical innovation and experimentation. Often short films are associated with 'alternative' film making. This also means that the filmmaker has much more control and artistic freedom of their movie than they would in a feature length film. The short film is often used as a passport by the director; helping them work towards higher, bigger budget movies. They can express the skills of the director.